The King's Assassin
Page 45
Chapter 31
Dawn found Eryk and Byron together again, but it wasn’t for any sort of sparring practice today. As Eryk had promised the night before, the two Madelian emissaries were due to hang at sunrise. The council had gathered, less Aislynn, but Jackob was there in her stead. This would be his last act as chief advisor to the king of Bacovia.
Kardon and Sookra were led out of the castle, still in chains, and brought to the courtyard and the gallows that had been erected there during the night. They had tried pleading for their lives last night when Eryk had presented them with their sentence, but they were too late. Eryk had given them their last chance yesterday morning, and they had remained silent, so now they would pay the price for harboring a traitor to the throne.
There was no talking and very little movement among the group the men who were there to stand witness to the execution. The only sounds that broke the silence were the quiet rattle of the chains and the creak of the wooden steps as Kardon and Sookra took their places. The executioner placed the nooses around their necks, and then he took his place.
“Kardon and Sookra, diplomatic emissaries of the kingdom of Madelia, you are charged with being an accessory to the attempted murder of a member of the royal family of Evendell and harboring a traitor to the throne of Bacovia. Both of these acts are acts of war, designed to weaken the Bacovian throne, and it is for these acts that you are sentenced to hang until dead. It is with the consent of your queen that we carry out your sentence.”
Eryk gave a nod to the executioner, who pulled the lever located at the end of the platform, dropping the floor out from beneath the two men. The two fell out of sight, and the council stood there until the ropes stopped moving.
Eryk felt a certain amount of satisfaction that the emissaries were dead. They had helped to cause a lot of trouble, trouble that he could certainly have done without. Their actions had literally changed his life, plunging him prematurely into his reign as king. Honestly, the only good thing they had done for him was bring him Aislynn.
On the other hand, he had just been directly responsible for the deaths of two men. While they were certainly far from innocent, did being king honestly give him the right to decide who lives and who dies? Everyone seemed to think that it was his right, this ability to wield the power of life or death, but he didn’t think he was ready for it. Too bad he had no choice.
The council dispersed for now, and Byron agreed to take care of the bodies. He would send them back to Madelia for a proper burial, accompanied by a full squad of guards. They would be leaving later today, so Byron had a lot of work to do to get everyone ready for the journey.
Eryk made his way back inside, wondering what he should do with himself. He’d never been up this early without a very specific reason, and he wasn’t used to finding himself at loose ends. Branden would still be asleep, and so would Aislynn. He sighed and decided to head to his study.
For the past nine days, the day-to-day governing of the kingdom had basically been on hold, and everything would start up again after the funeral concluded tomorrow. He figured he might as well get an idea of what was pending. First, he visited the kitchen to get a snack to tide him over until breakfast, and to arrange for Aislynn’s breakfast to be delivered to her room in a few hours.
The stack of paperwork was as daunting as Eryk had been afraid that it would be. He decided to get started by sorting everything into piles based on what needed doing: one pile for things associated with money, another for guards and military, and a third for agriculture and resources. Eryk had six piles when he was finished sorting, and he was just sifting through the pile that he had flagged as important for the whole council to consider when his secretary walked into the room.
“Oh!” he said, startled. “Good morning, your Majesty. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here this early in the morning, or I would have knocked at the door. I have the report you requested, Sire.” The man looked very tired, and Eryk suspected that he likely hadn’t slept at all last night. Eryk thanked him for the report and sent him to get some rest before the council meeting. Eryk glanced briefly at the papers, his eyes widening. Well isn’t this interesting, he thought to himself.